Karachi hospitals to face the music for unsatisfactory waste disposal

All hospitals in Karachi will now be required to dispose of their waste properly or face legal action by the Sindh government.

This was stated by Barrister Murtaza Wahab, adviser to the Sindh chief minister on law, environment, climate change and coastal development, at a meeting at the Karachi commissioner’s office on Tuesday.

He took notice of how hospital waste was being disposed of without complying with the Hospital Waste Management Rules of 2014. The CM’s adviser directed all public and private hospitals in the city immediately submit their plans to the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency.

SEPA Additional Director General Waqar Hussain Phulpoto will issue notices to hospitals to begin hearing their waste management plans from Monday. The list of hospitals will be compiled with the help of the Sindh Healthcare Commission.

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation was told to share its three-year data of hospital waste disposal and provide a copy of the outsource agreement made with a third party for handling the waste. The corporation was also ordered to provide a list of all hospitals using KMC incinerators to dispose of their medical waste.

The city’s cantonment boards were directed to chalk out a policy framework for disposal of hospital waste and appoint officers to inspect the hospital waste management in their jurisdiction, which also included beaches.

Apart from government officials, representatives of major public and private hospitals in Karachi were also present at the meeting.